LA County COVID-19 Vaccination Executive Order
La Mirada to consider vote of ‘no confidence’ in LA County district attorney Gascón
by Mike Sprague
La Mirada’s City Council next week is expected to become the next city to approve a vote of no confidence in Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.
Already, the cities of Beverly Hills and Santa Clarita have approved similar resolutions. A recall effort also has been launched but that must wait until six months after he was sworn into office before they can collect signatures.
Council members in interviews before the vote on Tuesday, March 23 said Gascon’s policies of not prosecuting some lesser crimes already are resulting in higher crime.
“La Mirada has been affected by his policies,” Mayor John Lewis said.
“The fact he will not prosecute certain crimes has caused our own public safety numbers to increase, such as property crimes and grand theft auto and things of that nature,” Lewis said. “We need to have a no confidence vote to show we’re affected by the decisions being made by the District Attorney’s Office.”
Specifically, the city staff-drafted resolution criticizes his new policies,including:
- Eliminating cash bail for misdemeanors, non-serious or non-violent felonies;
- Calling for dismissal of several misdemeanor charges, such as trespassing, disturbing the peace, criminal threats, drug and paraphernalia possession, public intoxication and resisting arrest; and
- Elimination of sentence enhancements, including three-strikes law, gang enhancements and violations of bail
In an emailed response, Alex Bastian, special advisor to Gascón, defended the DA’s record.
“The District Attorney is very focused on enhancing public safety, increasing equity, expanding victim services and strengthening police accountability, Bastian wrote. “The policies implemented over the last few months go to furthering these core principles for all Angelenos, including La Mirada residents.”
Gascón’s also previously in a press conference has defended its policies. which include not seeking the death penalty, and eliminating cash bail and ending some sentencing enhancements, such as those impacting gang members.
Fallen Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Thomas Albanese Laid To Rest
by CBSLA Staff
DIAMOND BAR (CBSLA) — A Los Angeles County sheriff’s motorcycle deputy who died in a crash while on duty was given a solemn sendoff Friday.
Deputy Thomas Albanese was killed last month in a crash on Del Amo Boulevard near Paramount in Lakewood. He had been working overtime when he started following a driver suspected of speeding.
The driver of a Mercedes hit the deputy as he drove into the intersection on a changing light. Albanese, who joined the department in 2013, was declared dead at the scene.
Albanese was remembered by his loved ones and his law enforcement family at a memorial service in Diamond Bar.
The Firefighter Corollary
Why fire services are thriving and we are not
By Dave Edmonds
When it comes to disease, there’s a difference between treating the symptoms and finding the cure.
Police officer occupational discontent and job-caused stress are at their highest ever. Many LEOs are finding easier and more rewarding ways to make a living, and for more money, too. There are fewer good applicants, and fewer applicants, period. The commonly blamed causes — things like ineffective leadership, unrealistic workload, poor officer morale and public ingratitude — do deserve consideration. But what if these are just symptoms of a deeper root cause? That’s the way I see it, and I hope that we might finally move the discussion away from blaming the symptoms, toward naming and then curing the disease.
Law enforcement’s longtime inadequate service delivery model is that disease. There are real solutions for this, but unless government starts acting on them soon, the quality of our national police force may eventually merit the current ingratitude. Our service delivery model has not kept up with the ever-increasing demands. Over the decades, responsibilities and regulations have drastically increased, but we’re basically working the same way and with a lot of the same resources we did 80 years ago.
At the same time, however, there does exist a nationwide, widely accepted, highly functional service delivery model for public safety. It provides adequate funding for the mission, as well as maintaining generous, healthy and sustainable occupational conditions for its workers. Because of that, these public safety servants not only fulfill their mission with broad public satisfaction, but also enjoy a high level of job contentment and thrive throughout their careers. And finally, they live long, healthy and happy retirements.
It’s a great public safety model. It’s just not ours.
For the last 25 years, whenever I’ve seen an old, fit guy at the gym, I’ve gone out of my way to greet him. After all, I want to end up the same way. I figure that if there are any patterns to learn, they’ll come to light. It turns out there is one pattern: A lot of them are retired firefighters. Figures. Everybody loves them, they get paid to sleep … and they live forever, too? We know that long-term job stress and inadequate resources make our jobs harder and our lives shorter. Abundant evidence shows that the opposite can be true, too. I call this the Firefighter Corollary.
Pandemic, protests and purpose
Police psychologists address trauma behind the badge
Dr. Stephanie Barone McKenny
The pandemic and the civil unrest protests have heightened the sense of professional purpose among police psychologists across the nation. Department police psychologists from the major metropolitan law enforcement agencies of Los Angeles (LAPD), Dallas (DPD), Atlanta (APD), Honolulu (HPD) and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) in Chicago have combined forces to highlight common themes suggesting police psychology is in a time of great need. Innovative strategies that any agency (regardless of its size) can do to increase law enforcement family connections (as well as decrease officer isolation/vulnerability) are offered.
The pandemic has impacted intra-organizational dynamics, officer well-being, police–community relations and inter-organizational collaboration. As such, there has been a significant quantitative and qualitative demand for police psychologist clinical and organizational services. It has also changed the way police psychologists do business. Telehealth is a primary example. Whether you have access to a department police psychologist or an external contracted police psychologist, telehealth services are now routinely offered; expect this to continue in the future even after the pandemic has been resolved, due to several key benefits.
Access to care has been expanded. For example, officers are connecting with police psychologists on their smartphones from the stations before and after their shifts (and even from their patrol cars when needed during their shifts). Officers who could not be seen in person before (due to IOD, other significant medical conditions or residing in remote rural areas) are now able to routinely receive the support they need. Officer engagement has been improved; session no-shows have decreased and police psychologists are functioning as remote coaches for officers between sessions. Hours have been extended; police psychologists may be working late-night or zero dark thirty hours to meet the increased demands for services. Officer costs have been reduced; they do not need to commute to the doctor’s office for the session, and this has been particularly helpful to those assigned home without pay, but it may also reduce unnecessary ER visits. Doctor efficiency and officer satisfaction have increased. Overall, sworn and civilian employees tend to prefer the telehealth modality due to its convenience, flexibility and assurance of confidentiality through HIPAA compliance.
The civil unrest, protests and civic demonstrations have highlighted that trust has been fractured in communities regardless of any good works in the past. A re-examination of police tactics is critical for the evolution of law enforcement. A review of where we have been, where we are now and where we are going seems wise. It also seems wise to own any missteps along the way.
Nevertheless, it is true that the experience of the protests appears to be different depending on the department and city served. In Dallas, for example, such events may have been more traumatic given the July 7, 2016, ambush resulting in five officers killed, 12 officers shot and wounded, and over 400 officers exposed firsthand to the deadliest critical incident in U.S. law enforcement since 9/11, despite the fact that it began as a peaceful protest. In Honolulu, the struggles of 2020 started on January 19 when two officers were ambushed and killed in the line of duty. As a result, Honolulu police went into the pandemic and protests of 2020 with an emotional deficit and had to work hard to muster the energy to provide the services and the protection that the community still needed at a critical time in world history.
The pandemic, combined with the protests, has led many officers nationwide to feel abandoned by their department leadership as well as their top elected officials, perceiving that those leaders and officials had turned their backs on the officers who risk their lives every day for the community. Some officers have felt this is not the profession that they joined. Officers have questioned why their leaders are not protecting and sticking up more for officers, especially officers of color. Such biculturalism requires navigating between two worlds — law enforcement and race — like a tightrope walker on a high wire.
Police psychologists have found that their role may have significantly changed from what it was pre-pandemic. For example, depending on the department, police psychologists have seen a dramatic focus on marital counseling (whereas maybe they provided little or no couples counseling before), grief counseling (due to significant loss after loss), substance abuse and addiction interventions or the need for them to serve as public health professionals within the department. Police psychologists are not immune or isolated from the pandemic and protests. They are also exposed, restricted, having to navigate misinformation and keep their families safe. They, like the officers, are not operating in a cultural vacuum. It has become a parallel process.
Jonathan Hatami | Not Even the DA Is Above the Law
The city of Santa Clarita has been my home for over 38 years. Both of my children were born here. My wife serves our community as a Sheriff’s Department detective. We are raising our family here.
And, I have dedicated much of my life to the service of my country, my city and my county. However, the residents of Santa Clarita need to realize that we are now at a crossroads when it comes to the safety of our community, our homes, our neighborhoods and our families. We have a district attorney who is pro-criminal and anti-victim. He is implementing polices and directives that benefit and provide comfort to the wrongdoer over the safety of the public. As a city, we need to come together and stand as one united voice for all the voiceless and vulnerable members of our city and valley.
I want to be clear — I believe in reforms. However, committing present injustices against victims and their families to solve the past injustices in our society are not reforms. What the DA is doing is divisive, unfair and dangerous. In a few short months, justice, the law and human decency have been replaced with policies driven by the media, social politics and personal beliefs and feelings. There must be protection of the public, true justice, victim advocacy, personal accountability, punishment for wrongdoings, empathy for all, and we must follow the law.
George Gascón implemented $0 bail for all misdemeanors and many nonviolent felonies, including child abuse and domestic violence. Many of these crimes are repeat offenders. This policy is a direct violation of the will of the people. Millions of Angelenos voted against $0 bail in the fall of 2020. The DA has even disallowed the “out-on-bail” enhancement. That means a person can commit domestic violence, child abuse, and all sorts of other crimes, get arrested, get released within 48 hours on $0 bail, reoffend, and we are not permitted to file the “out-on-bail” enhancement. There is absolutely no punishment or deterrent to stop a criminal from continuously re-offending.
The DA has disallowed the filing of misdemeanor criminal threats, trespass, disturbing the peace and resisting arrest. This means that individuals can harass patrons and community members in the mall, the supermarket, at a restaurant, a day care center, a school, or just about anywhere, resist arrest and attack the police when deputies are called, and the wrongdoer will be released in 48 hours with no charge.
These policies will lead to diminished quality of life in the Santa Clarita city and valley and the lack of punishment or deterrence will eventually lead to those individuals committing more serious crimes. These policies will also destroy the morale of the deputies who honorably patrol our neighborhoods.
Gascón has also actively supported Assembly Bill 3234, which allows diversion for 45 misdemeanor offenses including hate crimes, assault with a deadly weapon and dissuading a witness. This also removed the 10-year firearm ban on individuals who commit these crimes. So, a person can walk into the Sacramento State capital with a firearm, be charged with a misdemeanor, get diversion, and be right back on the street with that firearm in a matter of days.
Gascón has relied on faulty data and science from articles that are not published, not peer-reviewed, and are based on partisan push-polls, in order to justify disallowing the charging of the gang enhancement and many firearms allegations. In L.A. County, murders are up 136% and shootings are up 261% as compared to the same time last year.
This DA even disallowed the filing of any hate crime allegations until he was pressured to change his directives. Think about that? Gascón says incarceration and prosecution is traumatic to the murderer and rapist. Well, murder, rape, hate crimes and child molestation are more traumatic to the victim, the victim’s family, and the community! A DA should not be trying to actively comfort murderers and rapists.
Gascón is allowing a 17-year-old who murdered two young mothers and tried to burn their bodies to be released when the murderer turns 25. I want to be clear — I believe that most juveniles can and should be rehabilitated. But murder, rape and child molestation are adult crimes and behavior. A DA must ultimately protect the public and all the children in our communities who are not committing such heinous crimes. That is his job. People need to know, including juveniles, that they will be held accountable for their criminal behavior. Ultimately, we have a pro-criminal DA who refuses to fully punish murderers and rapists.
PPOA Files Suit Against LASD to Protect Contract
In late May of 2019, PPOA was notified by the Chief Executive Office (CEO) of the Department’s intention to revise the job specifications of Sergeant and Lieutenant, thus eliminating the Dual Track promotional process in the future. As a result, PPOA dedicated significant resources, meeting regularly with the Department, in order to collaborate and discuss Sheriff Villanueva’s ideas for the future promotional process. Sadly, information requests by PPOA went unfulfilled and communications with PPOA by the Department abruptly ceased in mid-August.
PPOA President Tab Rhodes said, “Those of us involved in this conversation with the Department have repeatedly objected to the October 5, 2019 ‘Patrol Track’ only examination, which completely abandons the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) contract language regarding Dual Track.”
Additionally, a new “Rating of Record” component has been introduced to the proposed Sergeants’ promotional criteria, which has yet to be defined, nor described as to weight or implementation.
PPOA’s concerns regarding the violations of our contract have been repeatedly communicated to Department executives, culminating in a personal discussion between Sheriff Villanueva and PPOA President Rhodes. Unfortunately, PPOA’s efforts to resolve the issue of our MOU contract language regarding Dual Track with the Department have failed.
The primary responsibility of any union is to protect the rights of our members, utilizing the legally binding verbiage of an MOU/contract. This attack on our MOU, if successful, could be a thread which could unwind other aspects of our contract. If the language is not adhered to, the entire MOU is in jeopardy and the Department can continue to make arbitrary decisions without restraint. PPOA must now seek legal action to ensure that our MOU is legally adhered to by the County, Department and Sheriff Villanueva.
On September 19, 2019, PPOA filed a complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court to “Enforce a Public Safety Labor Agreement” naming the County of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Sheriff Alex Villanueva, as respondents. Additionally, PPOA is seeking a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to suspend the upcoming Sergeants’ promotional examination scheduled for October 5, 2019. Additionally, an Order to Show Cause for Preliminary Injunction from violating the MOU between PPOA and the County was filed simultaneously.
PPOA remains optimistic for a collaborative partnership with Sheriff Villanueva and the Department, but will always defend our members’ rights and our legally binding MOU. Please continue to review our communications here and via email, Facebook, and mobile app for additional information as it becomes available.
PPOA Board Leadership Updates
The PPOA board meeting on April 10th was a momentous one for leadership of this union. Retiree representative Art Reddy announced his resignation from the board — a decision that did not come easy for the retired sergeant who has served as a dedicated board member for nearly 30 years. Nobody in PPOA’s 68-year history has committed more time as a board member. Art was first elected to the board in 1979 as a deputy. He was re-elected term after term as a deputy, then sergeant, then retired member. His institutional knowledge of PPOA is unmatched and invaluable. We are extremely grateful that Art has agreed to continue providing his input to PPOA on a number of issues to help this association continue to make a difference for active and retired personnel. Thank you Art!
Following Art’s resignation, the PPOA board appointed newly-retired Sergeant Jim Schallert to fill the remainder of Art’s term. We look forward to working with Jim to advocate on behalf of 2,500+ retired PPOA members. Thank you Jim!
Schallert’s retirement created a vacancy for the position of PPOA vice president. The board voted unanimously to swear in Lieutenant Tab Rhodes to that position. Tab has served as a PPOA board member since 2011 and looks forward to his new role on the executive board. Thank you Tab!
The PPOA board also had an opportunity to thank Chief Patrick Jordan for his years of service as a board member. Jordan resigned from the board following his recent promotion and PPOA directors gratefully presented him with a plaque at Wednesday’s board meeting to honor his commitment to fellow union members. Thank you Pat!
PPOA Helps Members Cover Travel Costs for Memorial Ceremonies
PPOA is proud to continue the annual tradition of issuing reimbursements up to $100 for members who attend the 2019 California Peace Officer Memorial Ceremony on May 6th in Sacramento and up to $250 for members who attend the 2019 National Peace Officer Memorial Ceremony on May 15th in Washington DC. All members are strongly encouraged to attend these worthwhile events to honor fallen officers. Reimbursement eligibility is limited to the first 20 full dues-paying, active PPOA members (per ceremony) who call PPOA to register at (800) 747-PPOA. Following the event(s), each eligible member must submit receipts for hotel and travel expenses to PPOA for reimbursement.